


A Coherence in Things

by HopefulNebula



Category: Farscape
Genre: Episode Tag: s01e17 Through The Looking Glass, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopefulNebula/pseuds/HopefulNebula
Summary: Aeryn walks the ship the night after "Through the Looking Glass", and finds herself testing her abilities with Pilot's guidance.
Relationships: Pilot & Aeryn Sun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Space Swap 2020





	A Coherence in Things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [janetcarter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/janetcarter/gifts).



> This is an episode tag for "Through the Looking Glass" that draws on many developments from earlier in season 1.

Aeryn has never been a sound sleeper. Having grown up as a Peacekeeper, she's accustomed to waking on short notice, being alert and ready for battle within microts, prepared for whatever might come her way.

This time feels no different at first, except she's halfway into her boots before her brain catches up with reality. Tonight there are no emergencies. No alarms. Not even a sour stomach after the night's feast.

Aeryn stands at the edge of her bed for a moment, before bending over to finish putting on her shoes. She's not going to fall back asleep for a while, so she might as well walk around the ship.

Even with everyone else asleep, Moya doesn't feel empty. She can't feel everything anymore, but the ship around her seems louder than usual tonight. She senses Moya's fluids like she does her own heartbeat, the electric pulses of data like her own breath. It's like a text she can see, but not quite read. The question is, why is she feeling it so strongly right now?

There's one place she can go for the answer to that question. Aeryn takes one last look at the stars around her, turns around, and opens the door.

* * *

"Officer Sun," Pilot says. "The sensors showed that you were moving around, but I wasn't sure whether you wanted to be left alone."

"It's fine, Pilot. Is everything all right with Moya? And the baby?"

Pilot smiles. "Moya is in some mild discomfort, but nothing is going wrong. The baby is simply restless at the moment. Is... is that why you're here?"

"I suppose it is," Aeryn replies. A few microts of not-quite-silence pass between the two of them. "I still don't know how you can handle so much input at once. It doesn't ever stop for you, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. But my species is well suited to handle such sensory load, and I have spent many cycles of experience managing it. You have no such advantage, I'm afraid. And once you fully returned to yourself on NamTar's asteroid..."

"...I lost much of the ability I'd developed," Aeryn finishes.

"Is it a problem for you tonight?" Pilot asks.

"No, not really. It just woke me up, I think."

"Perhaps you're particularly sensitive after the work you did to extract Moya from the dimensional rift."

That makes as much sense as anything. She's been conceptualizing her connection to Pilot and Moya as like a muscle, and she knows quite well the kind of soreness that comes from stretching a muscle the wrong way.

Aeryn's next question comes out almost unbidden, as if some ancient instinct compels her to ask it. "Would you mind teaching me more, since I'm here?"

Pilot lifts an arm from his console and looks directly at Aeryn, as if he'd been expecting her to ask. Maybe he has. "Of course, anytime. Have you been able to string your thoughts as we discussed earlier?"

Aeryn nods. "It comes more easily when I don't try to focus on doing it."

"Good," Pilot responds. "It may help you to find a single point of focus as your primary, and build everything else onto that."

Aeryn closes her eyes, reaching out beyond her own senses for something solid she can use.

 _There_.

She thinks it might be Moya's ventilation system, but she can't quite be certain. It doesn't matter. It's like a humming at the ends of her nerves, constant, and it resonates within her as soon as she feels it. The sensation is powerful and tantalizing, and it's all too easy to let herself follow it.

The sharp tap of a claw on her shoulder startles Aeryn out of her reverie. "You must breathe normally," Pilot reminds her. Aeryn says nothing, but inhales deeply and adds her own body's basic needs to the scope of her awareness. One more string in the braid. "That's better. Now tell me, what else can you sense?"

"There's... I think they're some DRDs?" Aeryn replies. "On tier three, in one of the corridors."

She doesn't see it, but she knows Pilot is nodding. "Good. What can you tell me about them?"

Careful not to let go of what she's already built, Aeryn tightens the focus of her attention. And then, suddenly, the knowledge comes to her, in the same way that she knows that she has two arms and two legs. "They're cleaning up something organic. Probably some of the food cubes that Rygel and Chiana were throwing at each other."

"Exactly that," Pilot replies. His voice has a sense of pride to it, and Aeryn has the idea that it isn't only because of her correct answers.

This time on her own accord, she adds the DRDs to her low-level awareness and goes searching again. The next sensation that draws her in is a distant, slow pulse. Aeryn doesn't know exactly what it reminds her of, but once she finds it, it's constant and comforting and it feels like a soft breeze against whichever part of herself is sensing it. Reluctant to examine it too directly, she weaves it in with the rest before she loses it.

"That's the long range sensors," says Pilot.

"You can tell what I'm sensing?" Aeryn asks. The shock almost makes her lose everything, but she manages to keep her attention on the threads of thought within her. 

"I can infer, based on systems load."

"Oh." She pauses, takes another breath, makes sure everything is settled within her. "All right, then." Aeryn wonders briefly whether she's reached her limit, when Pilot interjects once again.

"There's one more thing Moya wishes you to know," he says. His voice is reverent, almost a whisper, as he reaches one claw out and guides her hand to his console.

Aeryn doesn't know what to expect at first. For a moment, nothing is different.

And then, suddenly, she feels it.

If Moya's signals are like a text she can't quite make out, this is a new language entirely, one that not even the translation microbes can handle, but she can tell its meaning all the same.

Aeryn drops the other threads of thought she had held within her. They're still there, but no longer relevant. She opens her eyes to find her vision slightly blurry - there are tears of joy there. Her own joy, and Moya's, and Pilot's, all at once.

"I told you the baby was restless tonight," Pilot says, and Aeryn stands as still as she can, focusing on the sensation Moya is sending her, of what it's like to feel the Leviathan's baby changing position.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for giving me the excuse to rewatch this show! I'd almost forgotten how much I love the characters.


End file.
